280 
VISIT TO THE NORTH-EAST OF EUROPE. 
taxable matter of 28 governments. In 1848 the cost amounted to 
237,028 roubles and 92£ kopeks; and the tax-payers felt the bur- 
den to the amount of only one kopek and a seventh a-head. The 
kopek is the hundredth part of a rouble*. 
The next and not the least interesting feature of this useful de- 
partment is the races. There are two kinds of races : First, there 
are test-races, for the thoroughbreds. Of these, in the saddle, the 
principal occur at Moscow, Tsarskoe Seloe, and Toula; others, not 
of such pretension, at Sebedian, CatherinoslafF, Kherson, Simpkero- 
pal, and KischnefF. In 1848, 108 horses ran in the first-class 
races, and 93 in the second. 
Annual races are also established for trotting-horses at St. Peters- 
burgh, Tsarskoe-Seloe, Moscow, Toula, Sebedian, TambofF, Yo- 
roneg, Riazan, and KhozlofF. In 1848, 166 horses ran in ninety 
of these races. The winter races of St. Petersburgh are particu- 
larly worthy of notice. At first they were trifles. In 1846 (the 
year of their foundation) there were but seven during the whole 
winter ; only fifteen horses were entered, and the prizes won 
scarcely exceeded the value of 1420 silver roubles. In 1848 there 
were thirty races in the same period ; not less than fifty horses ran, 
and the prizes were worth 10,117 silver roubles. Nine thousand 
of these were subscribed by sporting individuals, the remainder 
contributed by the Government ; and during the whole year the 
amount of prizes distributed by the Department of the Studs, for 
the first-class races alone, was 24,742 silver roubles. 
Although the subject of these establishments and regulations is 
not completed, I must adjourn the remaining particulars to a future 
occasion ; and I will conclude my present account with a little event 
of a relevant kind. 
On the 3d of this month there was a race on the Neva — not a 
boat race, but a chariot race, over the frozen current. The distance 
was fifteen versts. Each team of three horses drew the troika. 
The first prize, 250 roubles, was gained by a government team of 
the Petersburgh district ; the second prize, 50 roubles, by another 
mail team of the government of Novgorod. A post vehicle of the 
Petersburgh government came in third. 
The Stud Department gave a silver plate worth 100 roubles, as 
a prize in another race — weighted, over the same ground, or rather 
the same ice. Each horse was to carry, at starting, including 
the sledge, a weight of 129 poods. The pood is 40 Russian pounds, 
and the Russian pound is, I think, one-eighth less than our pound 
avoirdupois. The weight (nearly fifty-two cwt.) I have mentioned 
was to be progressively increased till the horse gave in. 
The prize was won by Bogatyr, a seven-year-old bay stallion of 
* A rouble is a fraction more than 3s.. 2d. 
